Site Mobile Navigation

'Zauberflöte' in a New Easter Home

Kate Royal as Pamina and Dimitry Ivashchenko as Sarastro in "Die Zauberflöte" in Baden-Baden, Germany.Credit
Uli Deck/European Pressphoto Agency

BADEN-BADEN, GERMANY — The great Easter Festival reshuffling of 2013 has been accomplished. The Berlin Philharmonic, which in May 2011 announced that after 45 years its 2012 Easter Festival in Salzburg would be its last, has duly taken up residence in the Festspielhaus of this idyllic spa town that lured it away.

In Salzburg, meanwhile, quick action to engage the Dresden Staatskapelle orchestra and its conductor, Christian Thielemann, has allowed its Easter Festival to proceed apace.

The Berlin Philharmonic and its music director, Simon Rattle, said they wanted more productions than Salzburg could allow — although in fact, as in Salzburg, there is just one opera production here — and the ability to give a broader range of concerts variously configured with players drawn from its personnel. Yet nobody doubts that more money was the real lure. Under the Festspielhaus’s canny intendant, Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser, major events here have a Salzburg-like panache and prices to match, supported by a private funding base.

In January came more news: Mr. Rattle announced that he would not be staying on in Berlin after his contract expires in 2018. But that date seemed far in the future last Friday at the first of four performances of Mozart’s “Zauberflöte.” The opera was chosen by Mr. Mölich-Zebhauser, who recognized that time was of the essence and decided to steer clear of the Verdi-Wagner bicentennial. With a safe choice of opera and the engagement of the reputable, ever-busy Robert Carsen to stage it, a warm reception was all but assured.

And so it turned out (in contrast to the boos that reportedly greeted Michael Schulz’s staging of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” the Dresden orchestra’s initial Easter venture in Salzburg, which took place simultaneously). The new “Zauberflöte” has at least one element of novelty because it marks Mr. Rattle’s first time conducting the opera; Mr. Carsen previously staged it nearly 20 years ago at the Aix-en-Provence festival.

In some recent productions, Mr. Carsen has set the action in odd places — a schoolroom for Handel’s “Rinaldo,” the palace of Versailles during a guided tour for Lully’s “Armide.” Here the opening setting of a forest is reasonably in tune with what Mozart specified, as a serpent pursues the prince Tamino. But in Michael Levine’s designs this is an unmagical, very realistic forest (achieved by projections), which, moreover, remains in place for the entire opera, with Act 2 taking place underneath in a subterranean cavern and sometimes in both locations at once.

Photo

Pavol Breslik as Tamino, the prince charged with rescuing Pamina, whom he loves but knows only from a portrait — here a giant projection in the new production of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in Baden-Baden.Credit
Uli Deck/European Pressphoto Agency

Graves have been dug in a grassy clearing in front of the trees, and later an array of coffins is seen. A program note explains that Mr. Carsen has counted 60 references to death in Emanuel Schikaneder’s libretto.

Yet Mr. Carsen’s view of the opera is not pessimistic. In some respects this is a joyous, all-inclusive “Zauberflöte.” Women are part of Sarastro’s priestly cult (even if they don’t sing in the male choruses). As she undergoes her trials, Pamina is monitored by a priest (a woman), just as the men are. At the end, everyone is onstage in a feel-good moment together, dressed in various forms of modern attire (Petra Reinhardt designed the costumes) as if all were equal in the eyes of whatever gods watch over the inhabitants of this fantastical work.

Sometimes you wish Mr. Carsen had thought through his ideas more, such as his negation of the Queen of the Night’s wickedness by having her work with in tandem with Sarastro to test Pamina, her daughter. In a way, Mr. Carsen’s flitting from one idea to the next is consistent with the spirit of the libretto, where contradiction is more prevalent than consistency. But ultimately this is a rather drab “Zauberflöte,” in which the magical elements aren’t felt. When Tamino and Pagageno receive their flute and bells, they are simply handed them from the orchestra pit.

Pavol Breslik sings stylishly as Tamino, the prince charged with rescuing Pamina, whom he loves but knows only from a portrait — here a giant projection of the girl’s face. Mr. Breslik’s tenor has a lightish quality but takes on an appealing luster at moments of ardor. Kate Royal’s creamy soprano serves Pamina’s music nicely. A greater degree of nuance would be welcome at times, but her involved, sometimes impetuous delivery has an emotional thrust, and there were some lovely moments, such as her cry “Die Wahrheit” (“The truth”), which was prefaced by a telling pause.

Michael Nagy offers an engaging, robustly sung Papageno, who is first seen weighted down by camping gear and carrying a cooler. Instead of panpipes, he has a loud mouth organ that quickly wears out its welcome. Though small of voice, Ana Durlovski sings the Queen of the Night accurately and with tonal resonance. The bass Dmitry Ivashchenko displays the voice for Sarastro, but sometimes undersings in an apparent bid to seem sympathetic. The Three Ladies are starrily cast with Annick Massis, Magdalena Kozena and Nathalie Stutzmann. The veteran baritone José van Dam is the Speaker Priest, and the Three Boys (David Ruther, Cedric Schmitt and Joshua Augustin), first seen kicking around a soccer ball, are even more endearing than usual.

Speaking of playing in different configurations of players, the reduced orchestra for Mozart understandably leaves many of the Berlin players sidelined (something that was remedied the next day with a performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony”). Mr. Rattle stresses clarity without appreciably adopting traits of early music practitioners. Occasionally, tempos are on the brisk side and once or twice it took a few moments to establish unanimity. But Mr. Rattle’s reading is full of arresting details, such as finely judged dynamic contrast and instances when brief, recitative-like moments within musical numbers are given special attention. The orchestra received a warm welcome, especially when assembled on stage for a curtain call.

Die Zauberflöte. Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden. Through April 1.

Correction: April 5, 2013

An earlier version of this article made an incorrect reference to the festival’s possible financing by Russian sources. The funding base for the festival is entirely private.